Oculomotor findings in autistic children

Abstract

Eleven children with infantile autism or autistic-like conditions were examined with oculomotor tests and with auditory brainstem response audiometry. Measurements of voluntary, horizontal non-predictable saccades showed that the eye motor function was abnormal in six (55 per cent) of the eleven patients. The saccades were hypometric in all six instances and the saccadic velocity was reduced in four instances. The abnormalities observed are consistent with brain dysfunction, in most cases probably indicating ponto-cerebellar involvement. In five instances ABR was found to be abnormal which indicates brainstem dysfunction. Oculomotor dysfunction and/or ABR abnormality was observed in eight (73 per cent) of the patients studied.

Wearable eye tracking for mental health monitoring

“…Recent studies are focused on detecting autism from the infants' gaze, as children that present autistic syndromes tend to look less at eyes and more at mouths [25], thus show a pattern of eye movements when looking at faces that does not match the one observed in normal children. In a previous study, Rosenhall, Johansson and Gillberg also showed that 55% of the autistic children they tested made hypometric saccades, which means these saccades are too short to reach the target [26]. They also note that saccade velocity is reduced compared to control subjects and that smooth pursuit measurement is unreliable in child population.…”

Ahrnberg‐Symposium

“…Abnormal saccades are found at a high rate in cases with autistic disorder and relatively good IQ (Rosenhall et al 1988). Abnormal eye movements have also been described in reading disorder (Lennerstrand et al 1992), a condition which is independently related with behaviour problems of various types (Stevenson et al 1987).…”

Visual Behavior Analysis Between Neuro-typical Children and Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder

“…Ronsenhall et al [9] used this method in his study to study visually guided saccade in 11 children with ASD. The participants were required to fix their gaze on a light emitting diode whenever it glowed at the center of the screen.…”

“…Saccade latency is considered to be the combination of the time needed to process the target stimulus, and the process of the brain to determine 'when' to begin a saccade and 'where' to locate the saccadic target and a final motor implementation. Whether individuals with ASD have abnormal saccadic eye movement is still a debated issue and there are few contradictions in literature, although stronger evidences prove that people with ASD have atypical saccadic eye movement [8], [9]. This abnormality may deliver important information about the impairment in the cerebellum and cortical areas of the brain [9].…”

“…Whether individuals with ASD have abnormal saccadic eye movement is still a debated issue and there are few contradictions in literature, although stronger evidences prove that people with ASD have atypical saccadic eye movement [8], [9]. This abnormality may deliver important information about the impairment in the cerebellum and cortical areas of the brain [9]. However, due to insufficient number of researches about the saccadic motion of the eye in individuals with ASD, no clear conclusion can be drawn till date.…”